THERE was drama on Tuesday as Court ordered forensic inspection of INEC materials used in the November 11 Imo guber election particularly BVAS, but Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused the Labour Party access to the materials.
The process was slated to start by 3pm but was delayed till about 4pm and to the chagrin of many, INEC did not communicate the procedure for inspection, neither did they make available the BVAS for inspection.
INEC did not also have an established protocol on what and how to inspect the materials. Based on that, Barr Callistus Ihejiagwa said Labour Party will not inspect until clear procedures are established and the documents to be inspected including the BVAS listed.
There were also concerns as to why INEC officials did not allow the media to participate in the process as they stopped them from accessing the inspection room. CHANNELS TV, ARISE, AIT, NAN, Sun Correspondents were all there but they were asked to stay outside. Also while speaking the INEC HOD Legal, stated that the BVAS is not available for inspection.
State Chairman of LP, Barr Callistus Ihejiagwa KSJI, who represented the party, said during an interview, “we are here at the behest of the Governorship Tribunal sitting in Owerri which granted us our request to inspect the materials. Labour Party came bere with our team of inspectors as ordered by the courts.
“We have been here since morning and we were informed by the HOD legal thay the inspection will start by 3pm. We have been around. I have met severally inside his office and I told him specifically that he should call all the representatives of all the parties interested in this matter.
“The parties that obtained court oders include PDP, YPP, APGA, including Labour party. Since APC was the party that was purportedly declared winner of the election, I told him he should also bring them in because they have interest so that all the representatives of these five political parties will sit down and agree on modalities. He agreed but he was yet to do that. The next thing he moved to bis office, before his staff came and informed us to move to the hall. In the hall he said “he has tried to get the parties to agree and they have not agreed.”
“I said to him Sir, I am not aware that we have met because we never met to agree on the modalities for inspection. I told him that what we want is a very, smooth, violence free inspection as ordered by the tribunal where everyone will have the opportunity to participate equally under an arranged formula for the inspection and we haven’t agreed on that.
“That is why I am standing here waiting for him so that we can all agree on how the inspection will go, and the materials that will be inspected. We entiled to have these records before we move into the arena.
“At the moment, INEC has not told us which materials they have made available for inspection.
“As far as we are concerned, there’s no inspection going on here today,” he said.
Labour Party is commited to a transparent process and we urge INEC to do the right thing by establishing protocols and listing the documents and materials to be inspected including the BVAS.
We also demand that the media should be allowed to be part of the process as a part of their contribution to democratic efforts and good governance.
Recall that the Labour Party rejected the results of the November 11 election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), hence it approached the Tribunal to grant it permission to inspect the documents used for the election.
This is a step further towards the party’s quest to retrieve the people’s mandate.
Labour Party, Imo State has not abandoned and will not abandon this legal process towards retrieving the people’s mandate which was stolen in the biggest electoral heist ever in the history of Africa’s democracy.
The Labour Party and our Governorship candidate in their bid to take back Imo State are not weary and are willing to go the last legal hog to ensure that the right things is done.
Concluding Barr. Callistus Ihejiagwa said “we reiterate our stand that that INEC has compromised the entire process, and their deliberate refusal to grant us access to inspect the BVAS as ordered by the Tribunal confirms our stand.